Throughout history men and women of all ages have suffered different degrees of topical hair loss. The quest for an effective solution to hair loss has lead to the outgrowth of various surgical and non-surgical alternatives. This has fostered the growth of the market for hair replacement options into a multi-billion dollar a year industry.
Hair loss, through fallout or thinning, can be temporary or permanent. Factors that may lead to hair loss include stress, depression, and nutritional deficiency. Permanent hair loss can be triggered by cell structures that are genetically imbalanced. Continuing research has been done investigating genes that are affected by androgens (hormones that trigger certain kinds of hair loss). Several conditions that cause genetic imbalances, and that are found to affect as many men as women, include androgenetic alopecia, better known as common hereditary thinning, alopecia areata, a condition in which hair falls out in patches, and alopecia universalis, in which hair falls out universally. Temporary hair loss has been observed in women who have recently gone through childbirth, or can be the result of an iron deficiency caused by a women's menstrual cycle. Throughout it all, the absolute fact remains that whether one's hair loss is temporary or permanent, the impact of a hair loss problem is deeply psychological.
There are several surgical options available in treating a hair loss problem. The major problem with surgical procedures are that they are costly and somewhat risky, with unpredictable results which are at best, still much too detectable. These include hair transplants such as micrografts and mini-grafts (where one to four hairs are transplanted at a time), and split-grafts (the process of sliding tiny groups of hairs along a slit instead of a circular clump as in older procedures). Another type of surgical procedure, scalp reduction, is performed by literally slicing out a large section of a balding scalp and stretching and sewing the remaining flaps back together.
In 1988, with the FDA's approval of the use of minoxodil as a topical drug to treat hair loss, research into a whole new generation of drugs and restorative treatments has proliferated.
With the significant cost and the history of unspectacular and in many cases unsatisfactory results associated with both surgical procedures and drug treatments, non-surgical alternatives have created enormous growth in the hair replacement industry. These alternatives have included wigs, toupees, hair weaves and hair extensions all of which attach to existing hair growth, creating bulk, ridges and seams which can be readily felt, often seen, and have a very low measure of security (the ability of the hair to come off or lift up). These options have provided solutions that have been minimal in their cosmetic delivery and have typically been uncomfortable to wear.
The applicant is aware of the following patents which disclose hair replacement approaches:
______________________________________ Inventor(s) U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ Le Mole 2,907,334 Hess 3,037,261 Nelson 3,970,092 Nemoto 4,155,370 Agiotis 4,168,713 Mallouf 4,205,693 Kim 4,254,783 Nelson 4,254,784 Auretta 4,284,092 Bachtell 4,296,765 Nelson 4,372,330 Alfieri 4,509,539 Palumbo et al 4,606,359 Nilsen 4,688,584 Saenger 4,745,933 Meyer et al 4,947,877 Lamatrice 4,964,428 Dunagan 5,005,594 Finamore et al 5,033,486 Duffel 5,060,677 ______________________________________
Most of the mechanical means for retaining the hairpiece on the person's head have not received general acceptance and have little use.
While several of these references disclose the use of adhesive, the method of preparing the hairpiece to receive the adhesive and the means of applying the adhesive to the person's head are not disclosed. To provide a natural appearance and to assure retention of the hairpiece on the person's head, information on the adhesive is necessary.
Also, as noted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,057, correct positioning of the hairpiece on the person's head is extremely important. However, the reference discloses a mask to be used by the wearer to reproducibly position the hairpiece and does not suggest the use of adhesive. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,906,954, 4,509,539 and 5,060,677 recognize the need to prepare a pattern for forming the hairpiece. These patents do not disclose the method of marking the bald portion and preparing a template from the markings such that the template is used in forming the hairpiece and positioning and adhering the hairpiece on the person's head.
Thus, with the widespread use of hairpieces, there remains a need for a method to accurately measure the bald portion of the head, prepare a hairpiece to properly cover the bald portion and securely adhere the hairpiece to the person's head. The method must be customized for each individual for the shape of the person's head, the dimensions of the bald portion and the color and texture of the hair and should appear natural so that even professionals find the presence of the intracellular hair reconstruction system difficult to detect.